WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE AUDIO QUALITY AND PROBLEMS IN THE FIRST 10 MINUTES OR SO OF THE INTERVIEW! WE HAD SOME PROBLEMS WITH SKYPE CALLING ALASDAIR IN ENGLAND.

During this 40+ minute interview, Jason asks Alasdair if he thinks China will announce a gold reserves update about its official public government gold holdings.

Before Alasdair answers that question, he provides some background. Alasdair thinks the Chinese government/PBOC started accumulating massive tonnage of gold in the early to mid 1990s as it was getting ready to join the WTO.

Alasdair does think China will update its official gold holdings soon but that China doesn't care very much if its currency gets into the SDR.

Alasdair thinks China will eventually partially back its currency with gold (fractional gold standard?) and that China plans a separate SDR with other Asian economies.

Jason and Alasdair also discuss where is the gold coming from, the financial struggles of gold miners, why deflation can't last for a long period of time and why it hasn't ever lasted in modern history for more than a few years and other interesting topics.